PRESIDENTIAL AIDES: ASSETS OR LIABILITIES?

Myrna Goldberger
Recipient of the LLS 1999 Excellence in Teaching Award

DESCRIPTION: Presidential Aides exist for a specific reason: to do the bidding of the President, move his policies forward, protect him from scandal and mud-slinging, magnify his image and create an aura of success for his administration. Some aides have been truly exemplary; but others have brought shame rather than fame to the presidency. This lecture series will focus on aides who, either because of character weakness, greed, mishap or even by design, are remembered in history because of their scandalous stories. The series objective is to determine how the careers of some presidential aides influenced the path of history. From Sumner Welles to Sherman Adams, Bobby Baker, John Sununu, Walter Jenkins and others, these lectures demonstrate how those who were appointed to be assets became liabilities.

EIGHT LECTURES:

1. Sherman Adams and the vicuna coat
   
2. Sumner Welles and Walter Jenkins and “politically-incorrect behavior”
   
3. Bobby Baker, Adam Clayton Powell, John Sununu and more of the same
   
4. Karl Rove and the Bush connection
   
5. Erlichman and Halderman --Watergate and Nixon
   
6. Vince Foster, Dick Morris and the Clinton regime
   
7. Clark Clifford, Vernon Jordan
   
8. Aides who fulfilled their job description

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Myrna Goldberger has been an instructor for the Lifelong Learning Society (LLS) for 21-plus years. Educated at the University of Maryland, Loyola College and Johns Hopkins University, Myrna has had 50-plus years of experience in educational programming, including Elderhostel and scholar-in-residence weekends. She currently presents lectures to community and religious groups, as well as to special-interest groups in Florida and other states. Moreover, she performs in self-written one-act plays focusing on famous American women and men. Her students, who call themselves “Myrna’s Groupies,” describe her as “charismatic, knowledgeable and dynamic.” Myrna calls what she does “Edutainment” and she has been the recipient of several LLS awards.